The present invention relates to apparatus, systems and methods for vending articles, and in particular to automated techniques for reliably vending articles of increased value.
There have been a number of systems and methods developed for vending articles of relatively modest cost, such as candy bars, soft drinks, cigarettes and the like. Some prior art systems suffer from reliability, when a machine jam occurs, and are also susceptible to theft losses.
There has been developed in the prior art automated vending and retrieval machines for certain articles of increased value, such as video tapes. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,893,705 to Brown.